Yes, you read the title correctly.
For years now, Cassiopeia has not been on good relations with SM. There has been constant bickering to and fro from the beginning. In fact Cass were pretty much fanclub babies when they had to butt heads majorly with SME.
Let's take a walk down memory lane at the beginnings of the hectic relationship of now, the Worlds Largest Fanclub and Koreas leading Entertainment company (SM pales in comparison already don’t they?). When TVXQ were still fresh and young SM gave them their first challenge. SM was going to either take away a member or add one.
That is where the 5+1=0/5-1=0 movement came about. Cass was infuriated, they did not want their beloved boys to be altered, the very reason they entered that fandom was to support them as a whole. So how and why could SM dare to add or subtract a member? Push came to shove and Cass ended up boycotting all SM products, including of course, DBSKs.
You can imagine SM was not very happy but had to comply, 3 years ago SM wasn’t what it is today. They could not afford to lose DBSK or their fans since they had so much potential. And potential they had indeed. DBSK are now one of, if not the biggest boy band in Asia. In the record books as DBSK, and as Cassiopeia, you can't really deny that these two are dedicated to one another.
But why a boycott, why now? And what has this got to do with SNSD?
A lot of what pushed them to the edge has happened since their debut, and because of their disapproval of SNSD. For years as some of you know, and some of you don't, SM has been disregarding their fans. Not just Cassiopeia, but pretty much every FanClub under SME. Shall we take a run through?
- Jumping BoA:Well, simply put, when is the last time they saw her? Her last official release in Korea was back in, 2005 was it? "Girls on Top". Her Korean fans have barely seen her and she has been unbelievably active in Japan that some in Japan consider her a native. And when did Jumping BoA finally get to see their star? When SM was lacking in sales in SMTownLive in Seoul and needed the 'moneymaker' BoA to rescue them, by pulling in some Jumping BoAs. Now how insulting is that? For your entire fanclub to be ignored until the company needs some star power? Let's not forget her sudden trip to the US now, wasn't she supposed to come back to Korea?
- TRAXians: Do you know who they are? My point exactly. Another example of poor marketing and sending off again to Japan. They haven’t been active for an extremely long while, although their main vocals Jay (Typhoon) has had an operation on his vocal chords, I’m pretty sure he has recovered by now.
- Shapley: Need I mention the lack of promotions for CSJH The Grace? These poor 4 talented girls have also been shipped off to Japan to start all over again, after finally getting some recognition in Korea. Not forgetting the well known "stealing of color" issue earlier this year, where SNSD fans were favored over Shapley, although Shapley are the senior fanclub.
- E.L.F: Where do I start? Honestly I have no idea where to begin with ELF. ELF have suffered in their short life span as well, when Cass succeeded in keeping their boys together, SM has walked all over ELF and they are still suffering due to the "sub group/extra member" issues.
- Chocolates: Zhang LiYin does not get any backing deserving of her talents. The poor girl has been in China, her native country, and doesn’t get much support from SM in terms of promotions. Her fans are suffering continuously and one of the biggest insults was when in SMTownLive08 ShangHai, ZLY only sang two solo songs while other hoobaes (juniors) had more songs to sing.
- Ayumi Lee: Her fans still to this day wonder what is happening with her promotions. She had joined SME with the hopes of getting better backing, but now has been shipped to Japan as well, as an actress. She is continuously ignored and left in the background. And where was she SMTownLive?
And that's me being extremely vague. The artists and the fans suffer, and of course the fans are the only ones with the voices, considering that they are not bound by contract. And with the past SM has had with contracts and artists leaving the company, you know that their contracts will be iron clad and very very specific.
Now on to Cassiopeia and their reasoning for such a bold act. As I have previously mentioned, Cass have been constantly mistreated and disregarded by SM ever since they were established as an official FanClub. Cass and SM have never really seen eye to eye, but they have not reached their limits like this since the member fiasco.
You have to bear in mind the happenings of this year of the FanClub, and they go like this:
- TVXQ and Japan: TVXQ announced after their "O Jung.Ban.Hap" album promotions that they were leaving to Japan to stay for almost 2 years (1 year and 7 months). What happened in Japan? A lot of things in terms of the boys. Openly the TVXQ boys have expressed certain episodes of their lives in Japan while they were away, and a lot of saddening news was disclosed. Cass as any fanclub would, care immensely about their boys, so the DBSK boys clearly declaring that they had gone through depression in Japan, and had gotten so ill sometimes that they would "cough up blood" would upset them. SM has a shady past in regards to their treatment of idols and Cass know that, so if these instances were declared publicly, just what could be hidden? Only some times have the members been seen to collapse and sent to Hospitals secretly, and only when fans witness these moments do they know about it (as opposed to other artists having such news spread in the media). Also the emergence of "Big East" as a separate fanclub, why would they have a seperate fanclub when "Cassiopeia" is "worldwide"?
- SNSD: Oh dear, where do I begin? Cassiopeia initially had no qualms with this group. It only began after time.
- Girl's Generation: Think for a moment and be reminded of what exactly the largest percentage of SMs customer base is. Girls right, pretty much "sonyeos", who are young unmarried women. Cassiopeia contains many male members, yet the majority of this fanclub (as any boy band FC would be like), contains mostly girls or "sonyeos". SM as you know doesn’t quite like Cassiopeia ever since they boycotted them the first time round. Nevertheless, having SNSD emerge and cause such a negative ruckus in terms of their disrespect and lack of humility, has angered Cass (and nearly everyone else), because it was their money that got them there in the first place. Think about it, over the years SM has taken a lot from the Cass piggybank and invested in other artists, when the artists are deserving there is no need to say anything, but with SNSD they just pushed them too far. Especially since they were meant to "represent" them as their generation, quite insulting when they haven’t done anything that paints them in a positive light.
- SNSD fans and their lack of better judgment and cyber-abuse: Ever since the girls debuted and they had a "loyal" fan base, their fans have been entering other FCs territory and bashing. It's not surprising to see some renegade fans attacking other FCs, but the consistency and common nature of these negative and malicious messages and "flooding" has just reached ridiculous levels. Thus, making fans of other FCs uncomfortable and suffocating them within their own fandom. It's not just the bashing but the sheer level and immorality of the things they say is just, wrong. I really would not rather quote one incident that involves a reference to U-know Yunhos anti-fan attack.
- The SNSD girls: Their constant disrespect to other artists, including of course DBSK has just gone too far. Being "friends" is not something you can actually clarify unless of course you are them, and since SM makes sure to make out that SMTown is a "family" it's not exactly legit if they seem friendly anyhow. They have constantly shown disrespect in the level of "language" they use with DBSK and other seniors in the business. Not using the right honorific is very important in Korean culture and they know it, but don’t seem to care.
- Tiffany: It's nice of her to make sure she insults everyone, isn’t it? She claimed that Cassiopeia looked like "insects" as they wave their red balloons. Sounds like a bitter comment to me, after all an Ocean cannot be compared to a puddle, can it?
- Claims of SNSD fans: saying that DBSK were "sexually harassing" the SNSD girls, although initially no one really cared about the Haptic CF.
Unfortunately after the documentary on Mnet and through out the years that SM has supported ill treatment of not only their stars, but the people who support them, it's influenced others to think negatively about them. Cassiopeia and ELF especially. Personally, I know Cassiopeia and have watched them grow and seen how mature they have become, they even showed their maturity as a young fanclub, but this video after the release of Mirotic speaks for itself:
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Translation by thatsdumb@STAND:
- Spoiler:
0:07: To those who dislike TVXQ and Cassiopeia
0:14: Do you hate us that much?
0:16: If you really hate us, can you teach us the reason why?
*Bashing of Cass for being crazed/obsessed. That they should be cursed from the day they were born. "Music Bank's Standard for Selection criticized by TVXQ's fans. Change it to our liking!"*
0:44: News about lines for the new TVXQ album
0:46: They look pitiful. Are they trying to imitate SeoTaiji's fans?
0:53: Did we do something so wrong?
0:58: Then we'll show you something.
0:59: Seo TaiJi's fans.
1:05: We were merely standing in line, just like them, but we get bashed.
1:08: What did you say about other groups? SeoTaiji's still the best! Big Bangs still the best! Its admirable how they were able to sell all those albums
1:12: But do you know what they said about us?
1:13: They have 800,000 fanclub members but how come they only sold 100,000? TVXQ's newest albums sales low - after two days, only 300,000 sold.
1:20: And that we forced Music Bank to change the ranking in the album sales chart, we acknowledged that we shouldn't have done that.
1:23: But something similar has happened before.
1:25: Don't you remember what happened when Epik High released their album?
1:27: The album sales aren't accurate, add the number of album sales.
1:30: There were rumours like this, but we didn't say anything
1:37: But now, for us, it is a big issue.
1:40: And also, there was an incident like this
1:42: While TVXQ was in Japan
1:44: Music Industry in Depression
1:46: People were complaining that no one was buying albums
1:48: But now that we are buying albums
1:50: 'Look at that crazed obsessed fan wasting money'
1:52: Yes, you're correct
1:54: Whether we buy the album or not,
1:56: We will be cursed and bashed either way.
2:01: But you know,
2:03: You might be forgetting this
2:09: But we're people too.
2:13: We also bleed when we are pricked by a needle
2:16: We get hurt when we get stepped upon
2:20: Just like others,
2:25: We get hurt.
2:30: But, but..
2:35: Everyone, you also don't know this
2:38: We Cassiopeia,
2:40: Look strong on the outside
2:43: But when no one is looking, we cry silently while trying to stop the tears..
2:47: You guys didn't know that..
2:49: You didn't acknowledge that..
2:55: We would also like, for a little bit,
2:56: Just for a little bit,
2:58: For you to like us..
3:00: To appreciate us..
3:02: Warmly, thankfully..
3:05: Can't you give us a chance?
3:08: Is it not possible?
3:12: Lastly,
3:14: When we're hit, we get hurt
3:18: That we're also human
3:20: Just please remember that.
3:25: Thank you for watching.
Last edited by Bento_box on Wed 08 Oct 2008, 10:10 pm; edited 1 time in total